Program Overview

Research Foundations in Accounting

The Research Foundations in Accounting program is a one-year on-campus program designed to prepare students for PhD programs in accounting at leading international universities. This program introduces students to research methods that are the foundations for scientific rigor pertaining to issues in accounting.

Program Overview

Students who aspire to pursue accounting PhD programs will learn tools to be successful in their research endeavors. The program is completed in one academic year, divided into two semesters: fall and spring.

Admission Requirements

• Applicants must be on track to complete a bachelor's degree program with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 over the last 60 semester credit hours when they start the Graduate Certificate in Research Foundations in Accounting.
• Students currently enrolled in master's degree programs at UT Dallas and elsewhere can apply.
• The applicant's detailed résumé and two letters of recommendation from faculty will be evaluated for the applicant's interest in conducting research and inclination to pursue a career in academia.
• Students currently enrolled in the MS in Accounting and Analytics program at UT Dallas and interested in taking the courses for this certificate should have a minimum GPA in the program of 3.33.
• Students applying for the MS in Accounting and Analytics Cohort program can pursue the Research Foundations in Accounting certificate simultaneously.

Application Materials

• Online application
• Résumé
• Two letters of recommendation from faculty emphasizing the students' research abilities
• Statement of purpose
• A transcript from applicant's undergraduate school
• GMAT (recommended)
• TOEFL (required for international students)

Curriculum

The certificate is awarded upon successful completion of 15 semester credit hours.

Semester Credit Hours

• Fall Semester: 9 credit hours of coursework
• Spring Semester: 6 credit hours of coursework

Courses Required

• ACCT 7323 Foundations of Accounting Research
• BUAN 6312 Applied Econometrics and Time Series Analysis
• FIN 6350 Advanced Corporate Finance or ACCT 7324 Capital Markets Research in Accounting: Asset Pricing Topics and Information Intermediaries
• MECO 6303 Business Economics or MECO 6345 Advanced Managerial Economics
• OPRE 6301 Statistics and Data Analysis or ACCT 7314 Research on Financial Reporting

Tuition

Tuition for the graduate certificate program is $20,000 for non-Texas residents and $12,000 for Texas residents. Tuition is billed in the first and second semesters.

Financial Aid

For U.S. students who enroll as non-degree-seeking in the graduate certificate program, there are several sources for long-term educational loans based on the creditworthiness of the borrower.

Scholarships

Tuition scholarships are available to high-achieving students. Scholarships will be in the form of tuition discounts in the amount of $5,000 for students pursuing the Research Foundations in Accounting certificate only.

Faculty

Tenured faculty members in the Accounting and Finance Areas will teach the certificate program courses, including:

• Ashiq Ali, PhD
• Willian M. Cready, PhD
• Zhonglan Dai, PhD
• Umit G. Gurun, PhD
• Surya N. Janakiraman, PhD
• Robert Kieschnick, PhD
• Ningzhong Li, PhD
• Naim Bugra Ozel, PhD
• Vikram Nanda, PhD
• Ram Natarajan, PhD
• Suresh Radhakrishnan, PhD
• Gil Sadka, PhD
• John McClain Watson, PhD
• Yexiao Xu, PhD
• Harold Zhang, PhD
• Jieying Zhang, PhD
• Yuan Zhang, PhD
• Yibin Zhou, PhD